pan hoi street plays this little shangri-la trick in the middle of the glittering and buzzing eastern hong kong island. sandwich by queen’s road and the glorious taikoo shing and taikoo place, this old and unique neighbourhood seems to hum its own rhyme, wind blows easier here.

the setting of this street is unique. buildings are built above a terrace. this goes back to the history of the swire pacific company. in 1883 swire’s taikoo sugar refinery started production in this area (and later the dockyard). to facilitate production, the company built two reservoirs nearby and for the purpose of flood control, two nullah were added to direct excessive water towards the victoria harbour. one of the nullah went through this street. to prevent buildings affected by flood, buildings were built higher up.